Mayor Suprawito gets tough on sand quarrying

JAKARTA (JP): North Jakarta Mayor H. Suprawito threatened yesterday to revoke the licenses of companies which disobey warnings not to continue illegal sand quarrying in the Thousand Islands at Jakarta Bay.

Suprawito said his office had sent warning notices to companies found quarrying outside their permitted areas, and some that were quarrying without permits.

"Many companies have broken their agreements by crossing the sand quarrying areas allotted them by the city," he said.

If the warnings do not work and the companies keep quarrying illegally, the city will revoke their licenses, he said.

Suprawito declined to name the companies, or say how many had been warned by the city.

He only named one name, privately owned PT Rukindo, which has been ordered to stop sand quarrying in the Thousand Islands.

"Sand quarrying has been going on for years, since before I become mayor," he said.

"And my office is certainly trying hard to stop it."

Suprawito was responding to a charge made by some city councilors recently, that he was too lenient on sand quarrying in the islands.

The councilors said that sand quarrying was believed to have caused the disappearance of at least six of the Thousand Islands.

The six missing islands are reported as Pulau Ubi, Pulau Damar, Pulau Laki, Pulau Nirwana, Pulau Dapur and Pulau Nyamuk.

Two of them, Pulau Laki and Pulau Nyamuk, were well known homes to many birds species.

Suprawito said that the other four, Pulau Laki, Pulau Damar, Pulau Ubi and Pulau Nirwana, had always been submerged at high tide.

"So they disappear not just because of sand quarrying but because of nature too," he said.

Councilor Saud Rachman of Commission D for development affairs said earlier that three other small islands in the Thousand Islands had become submerged because of illegal sand quarrying.

They are Gusung Laga, Gusung Karang and Gusung Kapas.

Suprawito said that his office had pledged to continue its joint operation with police and customs officers to prevent and take action against illegal sand quarrying and other illegal activities on the Jakarta Bay water.

"This year alone, we have caught over 100 fisherman involved in illegal fishing and activities such as sand quarrying," he said.

Many of the suspects claimed they knew nothing of the dangers of environmental destruction, but they ran away when we spotted them in action, Suprawito said.

"So they must be pretending to be naive. And this kind of action should be stopped," he said.

"We pity them because many of them are just trying to make a living."

"But they are violating the rules, so they must be punished," he said. (07)